_Aplonis pelzelni_ Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875 (1876), p.
644. (Type locality, Ponapé.)
_Aplonis pelzelni_ Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp.
17, 32, pl. 2, fig. 3 (Ponapé); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
1877 (1878), p. 779 (Ponapé); _idem_, Journ, f. Ornith., 1880, p.
290 (Ponapé); _idem_, Ibis, 1881, pp. 110, 112, 115 (Ponapé);
Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 281
(Ponapé); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 13, 1890, p. 136
(Ponapé); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no.
6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 43 (Ponapé); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus.
Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 215 (Ponapé); Bolau, Mitteil.
Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 62 (Ponapé); Matschie, Journ. f.
Ornith., 1901, pp. 111, 112 (Ponapé); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902,
p. 542 (Ponapé); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 355 (Ponapé);
Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Ponapé); Kuroda, in
Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 70 (Ponapé); Mathews, Syst.
Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 849 (Ponapé); Hand-list
Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 170 (Ponapé); Bequaert, Mushi, 12,
1939, p. 82 (Ponapé); Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4,
1941, pp. 204, 213 (Ponapé); Bequaert, Occ. Papers Bernice P.
Bishop Mus., 16, 1941, p. 290 (Ponapé); Mayr. Birds Southwest
Pacific, 1945, p. 298 (Ponapé).
_Aplornis pelzelni_ Hand-List Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 189
(Ponapé).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ponapé.
_Characters._--Adult: A small, dark starling with upper parts
sooty-brown, darker on head with forehead and lores blackish;
wings, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail lighter and more
brownish than head; underparts paler and washed with olive-brown;
bill and feet black; iris brown.
Immature: Resembles adult, but lighter brown, especially the
underparts.
_A. pelzelni_ differs from _A. opacus_ by having no gloss on the
feathers, smaller size, more slender bill, and a brown iris.
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 46.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 59 (32 males, 24 females, 3
unsexed), from Caroline Islands, AMNH--Ponapé (Dec).
_Nesting._--Coultas (field notes) obtained reports that the Ponapé
Mountain Starling nests in cavities in trees and lays two eggs.